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Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

My new scope arrived today...just finished assembling it. makbule went ape when she saw the size of it. Still arguing where it's going to live Sad

I didn't quite expect it to be so big it's a 12inch Skywatcher Skyliner 300P flextube.
Very heavy but I feel it will be worth it in the long run due to better images form larger aperture. I was impressed with the 6" so will be over the moon if the quality is the same on this.
All initial reports seem to be very good but I will post when I have had achance to evaluate it.

Tomorrow evening looks ok according to forecast so let's see.
One of the main concerns was that it came with only one dust cover and that when the tube was retracted there was a 2 " gap and the mirror section being uncovered was open to dust ingress. Well I'm pleased to report mine came with two caps one for secondary mirror end and one for mirror section. Fully retacted it looks like R2D2 from Star Wars. So that's its nick name now.

regards
Cosmic

_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.

Cosmic · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 190 Location: Dunfermline

Well I did manage to get a few hours with the new scope tonight. Initial
results very promising indeed. The Moon bleached out most of the night
and the light pollution at home was horrendous. However, when I managed to find objects amongst the millions of stars that a 12" shows I was amazed. M13 in hercules resolves to hundreds of individual stars instead
of a fuzzy ball (very majestic). The ring nebula M57 was hard to locate but eventually managed it and ring clearly defined. Andromeda nebula better than normally but light pollution on that side was terrible so I await a more promising location to see the improvement.
The Dob was very hard to use on objects low in the sky (at one point I was like a limbo dancer, no easy feat for a man my size). the straight through finder was also difficult to use on anything lower than upright.
I will need to get some kind of adjustable stool as my back and neck are very sore just now. Stars were crisp and sharply focused and much in abundance. it will take some getting used to after the ETX 105 but I'm sure I will have made the right decision in the end. I think some kind of portable raised platform may be in order to raise it 12" off the ground.
An perhaps a shroud to prevent dropped objects from crashing on the mirror i.e. a dropped lens.

The 15 x 70 binos I got with it were amazing for finding DSO's and gave a clear disc and moons of Jupiter. I look forward to using these too.
So in conclusion a very promising start and a great scope. I just need a really dark night to put it through its paces. Will keep you posted.

regards Cosmic

_________________
Meade LX90 UHTC 8" SCT
Celestron Nexstar 5SE SCT
Mintron MTV-12V6HC-EX ccd video cam
15x70 Astro Binoculars 10x50 Binoculars
When I was a child I had a dream......now I own a telescope ....it's no longer a dream.